


Already Gone

by junko



Series: Chasing Demons [17]
Category: Bleach
Genre: Dancing, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-02
Updated: 2012-12-02
Packaged: 2017-11-20 02:36:12
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,772
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/580343
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/junko/pseuds/junko
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>For his birthday, Renji takes Byakuya to a dance club in the human world.  He's pretty sure the captain is going to hate it, but maybe he doesn't know Byakuya quite as well as he thought.... (part 3 of Renji's birthday gift.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Already Gone

**Author's Note:**

> Sorry this is so short, but I thought the dancing could use its own installment.

The dance club was called ArcH and the sign at the entrance explained that tonight’s venue was for “men only.” Renji left a very shell-shocked looking Byakuya at a table near the back of the room and shouldered up to the long, chrome-plated bar to order drinks. 

As he waited for the bartender to return with beer, Renji checked out the place. Suspended from the ceiling was an honest-to-god disco ball throwing glittering dots of light over the polished wood dance floor packed with gyrating male flesh. 

This part of the evening was clearly all for him. Byakuya probably hated everything single about it—the crowd, the smoke, the music. Especially the music—a pounding bass beat that was nearly deafening throbbed against the walls. But just as much as it was probably making Byakuya cringe, Renji could feel his hips starting to move in rhythm to the beat. 

Renji loved dancing.

He wasn’t particularly good at it. In fact, Yumichika had once told him he looked ‘asinine’ and then went on at great length about crimes against aesthetics in his usual way, but Renji didn’t care. He didn’t even really care to what kind of music he danced to, just as long as the music was fast enough to make his feet feel like moving. Free-styling it at a club like this?—total win. 

Byakuya was just going to have to put up with it for a couple of hours. Renji had, in fact, set the bar for Byakuya’s participation very low for this portion of the evening. Weeks ago, when he planned this as part of their adventure, Renji decided that if Byakuya sat in a corner and sulked the entire time that would be just fine. Renji’s best case scenario involved embarrassing the crap out of Byakuya by rocking his body suggestively—or idiotically, as the case may be--in the captain’s line of sight.

But that might be difficult given the crowd. 

“Busy night,” he said to the bartender once he’d returned with two beers. 

“Yeah,” the bartender was tall and wide and had dark skin like Captain Tōsen. His hair, however, was a flat top of tight yellow curls. “Drag queen show always brings in a big crowd.”

Renji looked at the bill and tried not to cringe. He sighed as he signed his mark and handed the slip back to the bartender, “Any chance there’s a discount for a birthday boy?”

“No,” the bartender said, but then he gave Renji a lascivious smile, “But I’ll give you a birthday kiss for free.”

“Thanks, but I’ve got that covered.”

“I’ll bet you do,” he said, after giving Renji one last looking over.

Renji smiled to himself as he made his way back to the table, dodging dancers and other customers. A drag show. Byakuya would not know how to cope with that. He was looking forward to explaining tonight’s entertainment only to discover some dude already trying to put the make on the captain. 

However, as soon as he spotted Renji, Byakuya stood up. He left the other guy without even a word. Byakuya walked toward Renji with the kind of determination that had Renji seriously thinking about backing up or reaching for Zabimaru. Once they were face-to-face, Byakuya gave Renji a very serious glare, “I told you we should have matched better.”

Then Byakuya took the drinks out of Renji’s hands and set them on the nearest table, which happened to already be occupied by another couple. 

“Hey, do you know how much those cost?” Renji said, since the two guys at the table clearly seemed to think they’d just gotten free beers delivered. But, before he could argue further, the captain had grabbed his hand and all but jerked him out deeper into the crowd. 

He stopped them in the middle of pumping dance music. Byakuya tucked his hand around Renji’s waist and said, “Dance with me.”

“What?”

“Surely you learned to waltz for the Academy’s senior ball,” Byakuya said, his voice straining to be loud enough to be heard over the music.

“Yeah… but only just,” Renji admitted, and, glancing around at the crowd of people who were giving them odd looks for standing stock still in the middle of the floor. “And, this isn’t the grand hall.”

“It is all I know to do,” Byakuya said firmly, his eyes on the floor, “And I wish to dance with you.”

Oh.

Renji took in a deep breath and nodded. “Okay,” he said, removing Byakuya’s hand from his waist and putting it on his shoulder. He slipped his own around Byakuya and pressed a palm firmly into Byakuya’s back, “But no way can I do it backwards. I lead.”

“Very well,” Byakuya said with a light sniff.

Renji found that due to the press of people, he was limited to sort of rocking in a circle in three-quarter time. But, he compensated by pulling Byakuya in closer, until their chests nearly touched. At first, Byakuya seemed to resist the idea that they couldn’t waltz properly, but, using his nose, Renji was able to nudge Byakuya’s head up. When Byakuya looked at up him curiously, he captured Byakuya’s lips in his. After a long, soft moment of a playful, slow tongue chase, Byakuya pulled back with a sigh. He relaxed and laid his head against Renji’s shoulder.

Now, instead of curious looks, they were getting nods of approval and big, sloppy grins. 

It hadn’t exactly been what Renji had been imagining, but having Byakuya in his arms in public made him forget wanting anything else, ever. 

Despite the music, it was dark enough in the club that Renji drifted into his own private world of feeling their bodies moving together to their own inner beat. It was easy to get lost in all the little sensations—the smell of Byakuya’s hair, the feeling of their bodies bumping when Renji made a misstep, the sound Byakuya’s annoyed-and-long-suffering sigh every time it happened, and the dots of light dancing on every surface. Renji felt so happy he was pretty sure he was grinning like an idiot.

“This would be much smoother if you would allow me to lead,” Byakuya murmured into his ear.

“You always lead. It’s my birthday. It’s my turn.”

Byakuya chuckled, a soft sound that tickled Renji’s ear. “I’d imagined you asking for this, but not as a waltz.”

That’s where Byakuya had him wrong. Renji had never intended to ask for a reversal in their bedroom games. In fact, he had no plans to ask for sex at all for his birthday. What he’d wanted more than anything was a _date_. That’s why he insisted that they come to the human world, where they could be together without having to worry if anyone besides Urahara and Yoruichi knew about it--where they could, in a moment like this, kiss in front of a whole crowd of strangers.

Byakuya seemed surprised by the enthusiasm behind Renji’s kiss, perhaps he thought it was an acknowledgment of demands to be made later. But, this was it, the only demand. The only other thing Renji wished he could do was tell Byakuya how he felt. But… well, he’d just have to continue to show him, because there was no way Renji was up for another Hanami disaster for his fucking birthday. 

No, the next person to say ‘I love you’ was going to have to be Byakuya. 

Since that wasn’t likely to happen any time soon, they would dance. The music around them changed, but Renji kept up the three-quarters beat. Byakuya shuffled along and seemed to be making a game out of avoiding being stepped on because Renji swore he felt a bit of controlled flash step and heard a little, triumphant, “Ha.”

Renji nuzzled into Byakuya’s hair and squeezed his hand tightly. Birthday sex would be a fine bonus, though. Renji certainly wouldn’t say no to it. But, he hadn’t booked a room in a love hotel or anything like that, and, if/when it did happen, Renji didn’t care who was on top. He didn’t have that much ego tied up in it, as it were. He was never going to say no to an opportunity to switch things up, but, in a lot more ways, this was a bigger deal—getting to stumble through the waltz, even though it meant stepping on the captain’s toes occasionally. 

So it took Renji by surprise when, several minutes later, the DJ announced that the next dance would be a modern waltz, “Performed by our own Miss Demeanor for the birthday boy and his partner and anyone else who wants to join them.” 

Byakuya lifted his head curiously. “Your idea?”

Renji frowned, “No, the only person who knows it’s my birthday is the bartender.” He looked over in the direction of the bar and sure enough the bartender was giving him a big, encouraging grin and what Renji was pretty sure was a rude gesture, but which might also have been a sign of approval.

The DJ announced, “Put your hands together for Miss Demeanor, who will now sing Sugarland’s ‘Already Gone.’” Renji and Byakuya stepped away from each other enough to clap. The room burst into hoots and hollers at the person who stepped into the spotlight in a skin-tight sparkly dress. The singer was petite and curvaceous with a luxurious pile of coppery curls. Weirdly, Renji was reminded of Miki, the cook from Byakuya’s estate.

The music that started up was nothing like what the club had been playing earlier, but it wasn’t a traditional waltz either. But, it was in three-quarters time, so Renji opened his arms and Byakuya stepped into them. 

The singer began to sing. Renji led them around the dance floor, twirling and spinning in the open space. Other couples began to join them. Renji concentrated so hard on getting the steps right that he didn’t much pay attention to the words, but a few struck him as very… appropriate. He watched Byakuya’s face, amazed that this moment was happening. It felt like a dream.

_They say the first time won't ever last_  
 _But that didn't stop me, the first time he laughed_  
 _All my friends tried to warn me the day that we met_  
 _‘Girl, don't you lose your heart yet’_

_But his dark eyes dared me with danger_  
 _And sparks fly like flame to a paper_  
 _Fire in his touch burning me up_  
 _But still I held on…_

_But I was already gone…._

When the song was over, Byakuya whispered into his ear, “Happy birthday, Renji,” and then they kissed.

**Author's Note:**

> There’s probably no one in Japan (or in this fandom) as fond of the country song referenced above as I am. One of the joys of fan fic is self-indulgence, however.
> 
> The club is real. Look it up on your next trip to Tokyo! However, I am apparently writing one year into the future (or possibly into the past), as Renji’s birthday falls on a Saturday NEXT YEAR (2013) and ArcH has men’s nights only on Saturdays.
> 
> Also "Miss Demeanor"? Totally the name I'd pick for myself if I were a drag queen.... :-)


End file.
